Okay, I admit it. This is an uber nerdy post. But uber nerdy can be uber good and even uber fun sometimes!
For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in history. Unfortunately, my university program doesn’t really allow for me to take all the history courses my little heart desires, but I can get away with sneaking in a couple Anthropology courses disguised as science credits (mwa haha). For those of you who aren’t familiar, Anthropology is essentially a study of humans’ interactions with the environment, specifically ancient humans. Anthropology oftentimes spills over into the field of archaeology, and that is where my book pick (and my recent archaeological interest) fits in.
The subheading of Loot, by Sharon Waxman, is “The battle over the stolen treasures of the ancient world,” which gives you a pretty good idea of the content. For any of you who have visited big museums such as the Met in New York or The British Museum, you know that the majority of their historical artifacts don’t come from their homeland, but rather, fascinating and exotic places like Greece, Egypt and Italy. Before laws were exercised in the field of archaeology, the rule of finders’ keepers was enforced. They became a sign of wealth and priceless artifacts are now often part of wealthy individual’s estate, even though those pieces belong in a museum where they can be properly cared for.
Now that the countries that have been plundered for centuries are starting to see the cultural and monetary value in these pieces, they are requesting for them to be returned. Because the laws involving goods that have been removed from their homeland for centuries are blurry or even non-existent, a war is raging in the anthropological and archaeological world. And that war is precisely what Waxman focuses on in Loot. Read More »
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